Panama Hacienda La Esmeralda Batch 10

For those who are unfamiliar, Hacienda La Esmeralda has been producing one of the world's most praised coffees for years. The unique Gesha variety of Coffea Arabica is grown there, and is largely responsible for the coffee's uniquely floral/ fruity aroma. The coffees of Hacienda La Esmeralda consistently fetch some of the highest premiums ever paid at auction for coffee.

We won't be stocking this coffee, but we did get some for tasting and comparison purposes. This lot was much less expensive than the top auction lot, which fetched over $100/pound green at auction, but was still a very expensive coffee. One roaster is selling batch 10 for about $50/pound (roasted).

Overall, this is a very nice lot, but perhaps less impressive than we had hoped it would be. The aroma is about what you would expect from one of the more affordable batches; sweetly fruity and floral, but not incredibly intense. The Gesha aroma always reminds us of Fruit Loops.

Interestingly, we liked this coffee best in a french press. Something seemed a bit lacking when we cupped it.

I roasted the sample batch very light, to about 428 degrees (most of our light roasts get dropped right around 430-435), and even at that level I felt it should have been lighter. This is a very delicate coffee, and the unique flavors and aromas are best enjoyed without too much "roastiness" to cover them up. I'll try the next sample a good 2-4 degrees lighter.

Tasting a coffee like Esmeralda is a good exercise for putting value in perspective. We've stocked several coffees recently that retailed for less than $15/pound that score at least 2 or 3 points higher on a 100 point scale. Esmeralda is unique, and delicious, but certainly not for everyone.

Its pretty easy to find an excellent coffee that you can retail for fifty bucks a pound. Its much more difficult (and rewarding) to find an excellent coffee that you can let go for $14.45. For now, at least, I think we'll stick with the latter.

-Jon